Letting sponsors name Tube stops would be 'worth millions'

Transport chiefs are “behind the curve” for failing to strike lucrative deals for the private sponsorship of stations and entire lines on the Tube and buses, it was claimed today.

Selling naming rights more aggressively across the public transport network would raise an estimated £136 million — which would pay for a one-year fare freeze.

Transport for London was urged to emulate cities such Madrid, Dubai, New York and Philadelphia which all sell station names to big businesses.

This could give rise to names such as “Knightsbridge, Home of Harrods”, “Burberry by Bond Street” and “Virgin Euston”, says a report by the Conservative Group at the London Assembly.

TfL responded to the report by insisting that commuters valued station heritage and were against names being sold off “to anyone waving a cheque book and offering a bad pun”.

Research by the Assembly Tories recommends that major brands help subsidise travel by paying to add their names to busy stations.

Authors of the report said its polling showed support for using sponsorship to reduce the cost of travel. Four in five Londoners (82 per cent) support more sponsorship across the network to subsidise fares, according to their poll. One in three supported renaming an existing underground station in a long-term commercial deal.

The Tory group wants to increase pressure on TfL to improve its balance sheet as it faces deep cuts when Chancellor George Osborne announces his public spending plans this month.

Conservative Assembly member Gareth Bacon said: “TfL is well behind the curve on this one. We have potential to command tens if not hundreds of millions of pounds through sponsorship deals on stations, lines, trains and bus routes. Sponsorship is already used on metro stations across the world.”

Graeme Craig, TfL’s commercial development director, said: “This report is well-intentioned but I don’t think it’s right to sell off Tube stations to someone waving a cheque book and offering a bad pun. A Tube map is to show people where a station is and renaming would bring about confusion, especially among the 30 million visitors on the network every year.”

Barclays bank and the Emirates airline have struck deals with TfL to have their names associated with the bike hire scheme and the East London cable car respectively. But Mr Craig said naming rights were more appropriate for these new projects as the sponsors contributed start-up costs and the deal did not involve renaming stations.